Battery component



Patented May 25, 1954 CROSS REFERENCE BATTERY COMPONENT John B. Eisen,Waterloo, Wis., assignor to Bjorksten Research Laboratories, Inc., acorporation of Illinois No Drawing. Application January 25, 1952,

Serial No. 268,343

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to electrical batteries, and more particularly toalkali-type batteries, in which the cathode plate consists of aconductive backing plate to which a metal oxide is firmly bonded.

Heretofore, such plates have been gravely limitedin their applicabilityby the requirement that the said oxide be firmly bonded to the saidmeta1 plate. It has been necessary to provide the metal plate with holesor grids, in order to make possible adequate adhesion of the metal oxidecomponent, and this component has been applied by methods such aspasting and the like, which have been quite tedious and difilcult, andabove all, have not been adapted for the preparation of extremely thinplates. Furthermore, plates so prepared have been brittle, and on severemechanical abrasion or vibration, the metal oxides have tended to flakeoff. Furthermore, in order to make them adhere at least to some degree,extremely high pressures have been used in stamping or preparing suchplates, and this is a manufacturing inconvenience.

It has been attempted'to adhere the oxides by means of various binders,but on the one hand such binders have been soluble in the stronglyalkaline electrolytes used in the system, and on the other hand theyhave been reactive with the metal oxides used in the batteries to causereduction, with consequent loss in efiicacy of the batteries. This hasbeen particularly true with relation to the easily reduced oxides ofnoble metals or semi-noble metals, such as, for example, cupri c oxide,mercuric oxide, silver oxide, silver peroxide, arsenium oxide, goldoxide, and the like.

I have discovered a binder which has been found suitable for theseapplications and which makes possible the preparation of such adherentpastes of these metal oxides that the said metal Example 1 A film ofsilver peroxide powder, initially water-coated onto a grid of silvergauze, was finally anchored by dipping it into a slurry of 10 parts 40%sodium silicate, 6 parts finely powdered fluorite, and 2 parts ofaluminum hydroxide gel.

After air-drying, the composite fllm was baked 30 minutes at C.

Example 2 A film of silver peroxide on a silver grid was fixed bydipping in a dispersion of 4 parts powdered cryolite in 12 parts byweight of a 40% sodium silicate solution. Upon air-drying, baking 30minutes at 90 0., the composite film was permeable to, but not solublein 30% aq. KOH.

Example 3 Silver peroxide powder was mixed with the Example 4 A thinpaste of 50 wts. mercuric oxide (yellow) was made with 25 wts. of 40%sodiun silicate and 25 wts. of 25% sodium fiuoborate aq. solution,- andcoated onto a stainless steel grid. Upon alrdrying and baking at C., thestructure served as cathode against zinc in 31% KOH solution.

While reference has been made to certain specific metal oxides, it isunderstood that the invention is broadly applicable to binding metaloxides to conductive plates and that it is not restricted to anyoneparticular oxide, or to any particular metallic plate, inasmuch as manymetals appear suitable for the purposes of this invention. The preferredembodiment is the one shown in Example 3.

In addition to the metals shown in the examples, I may also employ thefollowing metal oxides and hydroxides: Ca(OH) 2, ZnO, MgO, T102, Ba(OH)2, PhD.

While certain specific compositions of fluorides and silicates have beenshown, it is understood that, broadly speaking, combinations of allwater-soluble silicates are applicable, in conjunction with fluorides ofall metals which form water-soluble fluorides but water-insolublesilicates.

The invention is operable within the mole-percentage range of 20-80% ofthe silicates to 80- 20% of the fluorides, and the preferred range isbetween 40 and 60% for the silicate and 60 and 40% for the fluoride.

It is thus seen that the invention is broad in scope and is not to berestricted excepting by the claims, in which it is my intention to claimall novelty inherent in the invention as broadly EXAMINER 2,679,546 3 4as possible, in view of prior art. Having thus disbonded to anelectrically conductive plate, by closed my invention, I claim: means ofan irreversably dehydratable fluorol. A battery plate comprising a metaloxide silicic cement. bonded to a conductive plate by means of an ix- 7.An electrical battery, comprising, as a cathreversably dehydratablefluorosilicic cement. 5 ode plate thereof, a metal oxide bonded to a 2.A battery plate comprisin mercuric oxide conductive plate, by means of acement comprisbonded to ianwelectrically conductive plate, bying-between hand 60 %'1%.of nn=aikali earth fluomeans of; an:-in'eversably dehydratable 'fiuow. ride, and-between: 60 and 140%"of-asilicate of a rosiliciccement. cation selected from the group consistingof al- 3. A battery plate comprising a metal oxiddwloi-kali metals, thesaid plate being immersed in an bonded to an electrically conductive.platanby. alkaline electrolyte. means of a cement comprisingapproximately equal proportion of calciumfluoride andsodium 5mfflemBfi-ClM'in the me Of i P e t Silicate- UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 4. Anelectrical battery comprising, as a cathl5 ode plate thereof, a metaloxidebondedjto a c m.-. gg He Naime M ductive plate, by means of acement comprising? g "k 1897 between 20 and 80% of an alkali earthfluoride, 1 023861 Marina A 1912 and between 80 and 20% of a silicateofacatiom H er J5; :3 1938 selected from the group consisting of alkalimet- 20 2561943 z g July 1951 321223;? d'matehbmng immersed an a 823011133 Yardeny June 17, 1952 5. A battery plate comprising silveroxide FOREIGN PATEN'I'SI bonded to an electrically conductive plate, bymeans of an lirreversably dehyciratablefluo- 25 Yggg gffig 1 3 rosiliciccement. 2 3 1.

6.-' A' battery plate comprising: silverperoxide

1. A BATTERY PLATE COMPRISING A METAL OXIDE BONDED TO A CONDUCTIVE PLATEBY MEANS OF AN IRREVERSABLY DEHYDRATABLE FLUOROSILICIC CEMENT.